A Yoshi's Tale
by Jdog127
Summary: Three young yoshis embark on an adventure after discovering an old map. Along the way, they'll encounter danger, challenges, and maybe even love. Set in the world of Paper Mario, although most all characters are original, with a few characters from the game.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

The warm, salty breeze rolled over the treetops and lulled into the village. Yoshi's had been living here for longer than anybody could remember, and the whole island was very secluded from other parts of the Mushroom Kingdom. The volcano on the island was far from dormant, and most of the island was full of thick jungle, filled with monsters and who knows what. The only inhabitants on the island were the Yoshis and the Ravens. Life was mostly peaceful, but not all yoshis are content living in peace.

Ryu, a red yoshi, was particularly different. He needed adventure and excitement to enjoy his life, instead of lazing around and eating. Eating was a cornerstone of Yoshi culture. Eight square meals a day was a typical Yoshi diet, with several snacks spread out between them, of course. Ryu had a couple close friends - Sori and Byre. Sori, a blue yoshi, was similar to Ryu, but she had more control over herself. She didn't have as much guts as him, but she was also wiser, and smarter. Ryu was often quick to act and slow to think. Byre wasn't like either of them. He was yellow, shy and easily startled, but he likes to hang out with the two because he hopes that their adventurous spirits' will rub off on him. They were passing time up on the top of the volcano.

"Isn't this a little too dangerous?" said Byre. The trio was on the rim, tossing rocks into the abyss.

"Oh, grow up a little bit. Nothing bad is going to happen" said Ryu. He tossed in another rock. It clanged against the hard walls several times before they could no longer hear it. They didn't hear a thud.

"This is getting boring, anyways Ryu. Let's go do something else" said Sori. She had some compassion for Byre, but not always. She was curious about anything and everything, and if something interested her enough, she couldn't resist exploring further.

"I bet you can't push that big boulder over there into the volcano!" said Ryu.

"I can do that, easy!" Sori couldn't resist a challenge either, so she went over to the boulder and slowly managed to slide it closer to the hole. She nudged it over the edge, and the three watched in awe as it hurtled down into the abyss. It hit the walls a couple of times before it hit the bottom. This time, there was a very audible thud.

"Told you I could do it!" boasted Sori. Moments later, the ground beneath them began to shake.

"Ohhh no. I told you guys this wasn't a good idea!" Byre quickly scuttled down the side of the volcano. While he wasn't adventurous as the other two, he was twice as good at getting around. He could run faster than any other yoshi, and was quite agile, with the proper motivation. The lava spewing into the sky behind them was more than enough.

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTE: **Any review, long or short, would be greatly appreciated! If you don't feel like it, feel free to read on :)


	2. Chapter 1 :: Eruption

_Chapter 1 :: Eruption_

They hurried down the mountain as fast as possible, jumping from rocks and maneuvering through the trees. The sky was grey, and the face of the volcano was on fire. They got off of the volcano quickly enough, but the lava would eventually make its way to the village. Back at the village, everybody was in a panic. The last time the volcano erupted, the entire village was lost and they had to rebuild it completely. In the reconstruction, however, they created a system that could protect against another eruption. The Ravens, a longtime friend of yoshis, helped them construct it. The Ravens were extremely intelligent, despite their odd behaviors. They created a wall that surrounded the village which could be erected in the case of an emergency. There were towers scattered throughout the border of the village. Each tower had several large ropes attached to pulleys, which attached to the wall, buried in the ground. It required much strength to bring up the walls, so everybody had to help.

When the Ryu, Sori and Byre got back to the village, the wall was already nearly all the way up. They motioned to some yoshis in the tower, and they quickly lowered it so they could get in. The Ravens took shelter in the village as well, as their homes were in the trees, many of which were being brought down by the lava flow. The flow was beginning to near the wall. It had never been tested, and everyone was hoping it would hold. It inched forwards, waves of lava rolling over each other ever so slowly. It came up against the wall and stopped.

"It held, it held!"

"We're alright!"

All of the yoshis cheered in relief. Byre was pale. After the lava hardened and the sky began to clear, the tribe went to work cleaning up the mess around the village. Ryu decided that he'd rather go explore the volcano than help clean up, and Sori came with him. On the way there, they were talking.

"So do you think we caused the volcano to erupt?" said Sori.

"I don't know, but it's too late now to wonder. Besides, you're the one who did it!" replied Ryu. Sori thought about protesting his accusation, but decided against it. It was nearly impossible to win an argument against him. They continued on, slowly making their way towards the top of the volcano. The ground was scarred. Before, it was mostly green and rocky towards the top, but now it had rivers of hardened lava going down the sides like black tears.

"Whew! Finally, we're here" said Ryu.

"The view is really nice up here, even after the eruption" said Sori. She stood, looking back to where they just were. It was later in the day, and the sun was beginning to soak the skies with orange. She suddenly felt happy. Happy to be alive, but also happy to be with Ryu here on top of the world. She had always been unsure about him. He made her feel like this, from time to time, and she wondered how much she liked him. But whenever he said something stupid, or was being a jerk, she stopped wondering.

"Come on, Sori! Let's check out the inside of the volcano" said Ryu. They made their way up to the edge, and looked down into it.

"What's that?" she said. A ways down, there seemed to be an opening. It wasn't there before, so the eruption must have uncovered it, thought Sori.

"Huh, let's go check it out" said Ryu. They carefully made their way down into the volcano. There were several ledges, some big and some small, but they eventually arrived at the opening. The entered, and at first it was like any other cave. The walls were rocky, and even steaming a little bit from the eruption. It seemed to go down in a large spiral. Suddenly, they came to a stone staircase. It was extremely steep. They exchanged looks. They both looked surprised, and then smiled and started down the staircase.


	3. Chapter 2 :: The Beginning

_Chapter 2 :: The Beginning_

Ryu and Sori were deep in the volcano now. The air was starting to get very dry and hot, but they finally made it to the bottom of the staircase, and in front of them was a huge, circular room, with the ceiling at least 50 feet high.

"Wow" said Ryu. "Why haven't we ever heard about this place?"

"Well, the volcano hasn't erupted for at least a couple hundred years. Maybe they built it before that happened, and the eruption sealed it away" she said. They were walking towards the center of the room, where the ground was slightly indented. In the very center of the indentation was a small hole. It seemed about only several inches wide. There were words inscribed into the rock around it, but it was in a language they couldn't understand.

"It looks like it might be ancient Raven" said Sori.

* * *

Back in the village, Byre was beginning to worry about Sori and Ryu. They had been gone for several hours now. He knew they went back up to the volcano, and couldn't decide if he wanted to go check or not. After several minutes of nervous pacing, and after eating a quick fruit salad for a snack, and after a little more nervous pacing, he finally set out to see if things were alright. He was about to exit his shack when a raven flew down right in front of him. Byre shrieked.

"My apologies, Byre. I was just checking to see how you were doing" said the raven. The raven was a friend of Byre's.

"No problem, Ray" replied Byre. "I'm doing fine, but I'm about to head out to the volcano to see what Ryu and Sori are doing, but if you want to stick around here and do something else—"

"I'll go with you!" he interrupted. Byre was hoping for an excuse not to go, but regardless, they headed up there. They came up to the rim and found the opening Ryu and Sori had found earlier.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to turn back..." said Byre.

"Oh, it's just a ways down there. Don't be such an egg" said Ray. Byre reluctantly made his way down the treacherous path to the opening. Ray floated down gracefully.

* * *

Ryu and Sori were still trying to decipher the text, but failed to do so, so they decided to head back out of the volcano to get a raven to translate it for them. About half way up the stairway, they came across Byre and Ray.

"Hey! Fancy seeing you guys here" said Ryu. "And you brought Ray! Perfect!" Ryu and Sori took them both to the room in a hurry. They were simply too excited to try and explain everything on the way there. When they got there, Ray hopped over to the hole and attempted to read the text.

"I'm no expert on ancient Raven, but here goes..."

_Thou who wanteth the sacred treasure,_

_Heed my words, measure by measure._

_Something that talks, that eats, that flies_

_Use this thing here to obtain your prize._

"So...what the heck does that mean?" said Ryu.

"Something that talks, eats and flies...a raven?" said Sori.

"But how would we use a Raven here?" said Byre.

"Yeah, that's not it...um...maybe it's...a tongue?" said Sori.

"A TONGUE?" said Ryu.

"Yeah! It talks, and it eats, and our tongues don't fly, but that could just mean they move really fast." Said Sori.

"Okay then, who is going to stick their tongue in that thing?" said Ryu. Byre backed away.

"Not me!" said Sori.

"Well, it's only fair, since you figured out the puzzle" snickered Ryu.

"I'm not doing it. You're the one who made me push that rock!"

"Okay, okay. I'll do it..." said Ryu. He peered down the hole. It was dark, and probably wasn't going to taste very good. Oh well, he thought. He shot out his tongue into the hole and immediately, the hole constricted, but before anybody could freak out, it released. The indentation they were standing in started to rise upwards. The ceiling above them opened up, and they were soon inside of it. The platform stopped moving, and a pathway lined with torches started lighting up one by one. At the end was a map resting atop a pedestal.


	4. Chapter 3 :: Preparations

_Chapter 3 :: Preparations_

They slowly walked up to the pedestal and examined the map. The paper looked old, but it was still in good shape because of the dry atmosphere it was in, thought Sori. In the center of the map was Lavalava island, but over on the mainland, there were three X's scattered throughout it. One seemed to be atop a large mountain. Another was in a desert, and the last X was in a seemingly normal, green area. Written on the bottom of the map, there was more ancient text.

"The text on the bottom says this" said Ray.

_Locked away in this place is the unmatchable treasure_

_But to obtain it, one must first obtain the three keys_

_The keys vary in shape and in form_

_Find these keys and bring them here_

_And the treasure will be revealed._

"This is crazy! I can't believe we're even looking at this right now" said Sori. She was overwhelmed by the immensity of everything, but Ryu was ready to go out and find the keys without a doubt. Ryu could never turn down an opportunity for adventure, even if it meant plunging headfirst into danger. Eventually, he would get into something he couldn't get out of, and he knew it, but the idea of such an adventure was overwhelming. It was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

"We have to do this!" said Ryu.

"But no yoshi has ever even left this island. We don't even know what could be out there!" said Byre.

"Ryu, he's got a point. We could be getting in over our heads here" said Sori.

"Maybe, but how could we turn down something like this? Besides, there's got to be a first for everything, right?" said Ryu. Sori agreed, but reluctantly. How _could _they resist such an opportunity? Besides, she thought, _I'll get to spend more time with _Ryu. Ray and Byre both wanted to stay, but Byre remembered that he wanted to become more adventurous and spontaneous. _What better way to do it than this, _he thought. He didn't want to, but he was starting to learn to do things anyways.

_ "Alright then, but how are we going to get off the island?" _said Sori.

_ "Oh, I think I can figure something out" _said Ray_. _He loved a challenge.

* * *

Back at the village, Ray was hard at work designing a boat to hold the four of them. Ravens were excellent at this sort of thing, at least the design work. Creating things was his passion. He was almost as passionate about it as yoshis are when it comes to food. While he was working on the boat, the yoshis were assembling together the things they thought they should take with them. It was mostly food, but they also brought some ropes and some other things they thought might come in handy. Sooner than later, they were ready to leave. The next morning was going to be the start of something big.


	5. Chapter 4 :: Sailing Away

_Chapter 4 :: Sailing Away_

They awoke before sunrise. None of them slept very well. The boat was tied to a tree alongside the beach. The boat itself was massive, especially for how long Ray spent working on it. He'd outdone himself. It had three sails, two small and one big, the big one being in the center. It looked beautiful, and they stood there on the beach, about to leave.

"Well, this is it. After this, there will be no turning back" said Ryu. Even he felt a little nervous.

"Yep" said Byre. He was ready. They boarded the boat, and Ray undid the rope tied to the tree. He flew over to the boat, landing gracefully.

"HOIST THE SAILS!" yelled Ray. Each yoshi grabbed a rope and hoisted a sail, and before they could think, they were sailing away from the island. It quickly faded away from view, and they were now adrift in the ocean, far away from home. After a while, the excitement faded away. It was going to be quite a long time until they would reach the mainland.

Sori was out on the front of the boat, enjoying the cool breeze in her face. She was smiling, and Byre couldn't help but admire her. She looked beautiful, and he thought briefly about joining her, but quickly got scared and decided not to. He had always been sort of fond of Sori, but never had the courage to do anything about it. _Besides, she probably likes Ryu_, he thought.

Ryu was up in the eagle's nest, keeping an eye out for any sign of land. All that was on his mind was the keys that the map talked about. _The keys vary in shape and form_, is what the map said. _So what would the keys be, _he wondered. He thought about it for a little while, but figured that they would find out sooner or later. Just then, he saw a bit of land way away on the horizon.

"Land, ho!" he yelled. They had been at sea for a few days now, and they were relieved to hear that. But, as they got closer, it was beginning to seem like it wasn't land at all. It was a pale, white color, and it seemed like it was moving.

"I don't think that's land..." said Sori.

"It's a BLOOPER!" shrieked Ray. The Blooper was ginormous, at least the size of their ship. It spotted them and submerged under the water, heading towards them. The water crested above in its wake, and it hit the side of the boat with a thud. The boat rocked back and forth violently a couple of times, and then the blooper hit the side again.

"We have to do something, or we're going to capsize!" yelled Byre.

"I agree! Find something to hit it with or something!" replied Sori. They grabbed some oars, when all of a sudden, the thrashing stopped.

"Did it leave?" said Byre. Just after he said that, the tentacles all came out of the water, surrounding the boat.

"Nope..." said Ray. They started to hit the tentacles, but it wasn't doing much of anything. A tentacle flew through the air, straight into one of the smaller masts of the ship. It cracked, and fell starboard into the sea, bringing the sail with it. The blooper seemed to be rising out of the water, and they could see its head peering over the side of the boat. It just stared right at them. Just then, Ryu came down from above on the eagle's nest, with an oar in his hands. He jabbed to oar right into the blooper's eye, and the sound it made was horrific. It sunk back into the ocean, and swam away. Ryu landed back on the boat, safe and sound. He was elated.

"Whew...that's how it's done!" said Ryu.

"I didn't know there would be _bloopers_ on this trip..." said Byre.

"And I hope that's _all_ we'll see..." said Sori.


	6. Chapter 5 :: Darkness

_Chapter 5 :: Darkness_

Luckily, the rest of the way to the mainland was blooper-free. The boat slid up onto the sandy shore, and they tied the boat to a large rock nearby.

"Well, where do we go from here?" said Sori.

"Let's check the map" said Ryu. He pulled it out. They were north of the island, on the southwestern portion of the mainland outlined in the map. The whole area around them seemed really pleasant. Birds were chirping, swooping down and soaring inches away from the grassy ground. After walking for a while, they came up to a forest. It was quite the contrast to where they had been walking from. The trees were dense and knotted, the leaves, black. They could only see maybe several feet into the forest before it went completely black.

"Well, we tried. Let's go back" said Byre. He turned around and Sori stopped him with her arm before he could walk.

"No, we're not." She looked him in the eyes fiercely, but also with kindness. He looked back in bewilderment, and suddenly felt slightly more courageous.

"Okay..." he replied as he continued to stare back.

"Good...um, are you alright?" she said.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Let's go!" he replied.

They entered the forest, and the light behind them quickly faded away into darkness. On the forest floor, there were small patches of mushrooms everywhere. Everything seemed dead, decaying. Their footsteps cracked as they walked over decaying leaves scattered about the forest floor. Ryu was in front, leading the way, followed by Sori, then Byre, then Ray.

"Hey, guys...I think we're lost" said Ryu.

"Oh, no" said Byre.

"Ray, can you get a better view?" said Sori.

"Absolutely!" He flew up into the treetops, struggling to get through their thickness. He made it up to the top. It was nighttime, apparently. The lack of light made it so they couldn't even sense the passing of day to night. Over in the distance, he could make out a rooftop in the middle of the forest. He hopped down to the forest floor.

"There's a house over there!" he exclaimed. Ray went up front and led the way. They arrived at the house. It was a dark, purple color, with several tall, stained glass windows. There were a few dead, straggly trees scattered around it.

"I don't like the look of this" said Byre.

"Me neither" said Sori. "But we have to check it out. Maybe somebody inside knows about the keys." They walked up to the door, when suddenly—

"BWWAAAAAAAAA!" shrieked a Boo. Everybody jumped.

"Ahhhhhh!" Byre hunched over with his hands over his head, shaking.

"Who are you?" said Ryu.

"My name is known as Bootler, now may I ask, what is yours?" he replied.

"I'm Ryu, and they are Ray, Sori and Byre." The boo was a pale, greyish green color, and he had a very fancy-looking mustache and well-combed hair. He wore a monocle, making him even classier.

"And what business do you have here at Boo Mansion?" he inquired.

"We were lost in the forest" said Sori. "We're looking for some kind of special _key_."

"Lost? In Forever Forest?" he chuckled. "It's impossible to not get lost, so don't think you're unique! As for this...key...you talk about. I think I just may know this key."

"Um...can we...have it?" said Ray.

"HAHAHA! That is rich, my feathered friend. Have you not met a Boo before? We're not to keen on giving _gifts_. But I'll tell you what. If you can pass a series of tests, then this _key..." _he snickered. "...shall be yours."

"Tests?" said Sori. "Alright. What kind of tests?"

"Follow me." He disappeared and reappeared at the door. It squeaked ominously as it opened.


End file.
